Dr. Meghan Leonard presented a paper, “Gender, Race, and the Opinion Assignment Process on State Supreme Courts” at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting.
The paper, co-authored with Joseph Ross of Florida Gulf Coast University, asked if men and women chief justices assigned opinions differently when they have the power to do so. Noting the importance of calls to diversify the courts, this work examines if gender diversity on the courts leads to different outcomes.
Leonard and Ross find that generally men and women do not assign opinions differently except in cases relevant to the lived experiences of women, such as employment discrimination.
